Mahathir frowns as TURUN declares rally a success

Gerakan Turun Kos Sara Hidup (TURUN) had declared the 2014 New Year’s Eve rally to protest against rising cost of living a success but it was a different story for former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who complained about the rally, saying it had deprived the “majority’s right” to usher in the new year in Kuala Lumpur.

In a statement, TURUN chief Azan Safar thanked Malaysians who showed up for the peaceful rally and proved the authorities wrong for alleging that rally was aimed to topple the government.

"Congratulations to all Malaysians," he said, adding that the rally was just the beginning to the struggle facing the challengers in 2014.

The rally which ended peacefully however had received lashings from Mahathir, who complained as if he had missed the chance to celebrate New Year’s eve in Kuala Lumpur.

He insisted that the rally was illegal and labelled the participants as minority troublemakers to the majority who did not want to participate.

“As a democratic country, the minority, too, has rights. But they don’t have the right to spoil the life of the majority who wants to celebrate the New Year celebration, they can’t celebrate New Year, what democracy is that?” Mahathir was quoted saying by Bernama. -HD